IELTS Listening Test - Prepare well
The IELTS Academic listening test is one element in which tutors aren’t able to help students as much as they could in other areas. The skill of listening is one that is enhanced by practice and there is not much a teacher can say to improve a student’s ability at it. What is achievable is to give some hints for doing the test and also show the type of question that will arise during the test. After that, as much practice as possible is the way to improve. This practice might be doing actual IELTS practice listenings such as those available at www.passieltshigher.com or by doing any kind of listening in English.
The IELTS Academic listening test is approximately 40 minutes in total and there are four sections each with an individual listening passage. In each section there are 10 questions making 40 in all. Sections 1 and 2 are based on social survival in an English speaking country and sections 3 and 4 are based on a more educational and training orientation. The actual recording lasts for about 30 minutes and then students have 10 minutes at the end of the listening in order to transfer their answers to the answer paper.
Section 1 10 questions are required to be answered based on the content.
Section 2 It is divided into 2 parts. 10 questions are asked dependant on what is heard.
Section 3 Features a discussion between 2, 3 or 4 people.
Section 4 Here learners will hear a monologue though it may include a second speaker asking questions to stimulate the monologue. It is divided into 2 parts. 10 questions are required to be answered based on what is heard.}
Ths issue that students have with the IELTS Academic listening test is that the listening segment is only played once. Consequently students have to be quite quick and really alert in order to get the right answers, write them down and be ready for the next response. To reiterate; students have to get just as much practice at this skill as possible in an effort to maximise their probabilityof getting a good IELTS band result.
Particularly challenging to learners are local accents. English, like all languages, has a rich assortment of accents. Understanding difficult accents like Northern Irish or some of the Scottish accents can be very demanding, even for native English speakers. Results in the listening test reflect life generally, though, and the harder the scholar works at it and the more a student practices; the better the IELTS Listening Test band ranking will be.
